I Became a Rookie Cop (1)
There was a game called Hero City Simulator, commonly known as HCSi.
Like most city-building games, the goal was to construct a city and manage it well to make it prosper—but what set it apart was its backdrop: not an ordinary metropolis, but one teeming with heroes and villains.
Heroes who strived to protect everyone. Villains who sought to kill them all. And the player, caught in the middle, forced to manage the city.
Thanks to its unique concept and engaging gameplay, Hero City Simulator gained quite a following. It was deep enough that some players sank thousands of hours into it.
Public order improved by 5.
Popularity increased by 5.
Hero Devil Finger's affinity rose by 5.
"That do it?"
Kang Jin-ho was a hardcore veteran of the game. Sure, others might have logged more raw hours, but if you were talking about the most unconventional playstyles, he'd top the list without question.
He'd turned the city into a utopia ruled by heroes. Let it fall entirely into the villains' clutches. Balanced the two forces on a knife's edge to maintain a tense stalemate.
He'd tried it all. But his absolute favorite concept was a city where heroes held the upper hand... yet the villains still had room to breathe.
If villains dominated, they'd just steamroll the place with brute force. But when heroes were stronger, the villains got clever. Unable to win head-on, they'd commit crimes that were impossible to pin down.
"Investigating their crimes is what makes it so damn fun."
In Kang Jin-ho's view, that deductive element was the true gem of Hero City Simulator. Criminals used superpowers to pull off their heists, and players had to investigate, catch the perp, and claim the rewards.
Tiny clues left at the scene. Persistent patterns in their hits. Shifting witness testimonies. Piecing it all together felt more immersive than most dedicated mystery games.
Of course, with superpowers in the mix, some cases stretched plausibility—but those were the ones you just memorized the solutions for.
Still, after treating HCSi like a detective sim for thousands of hours, one question inevitably arose.
"...So why the hell do the police even exist here?"
Hero City did have police stations. They were even mandatory buildings, required in every district. But Kang Jin-ho had always wondered what the point was.
Mighty superpowered villains? Heroes took them down. Regular crooks? Heroes again. Casualties? Heroes rushed in first. Even traffic control or petty crime patrols—heroes handled those too, all to cultivate that "approachable, friendly hero" image.
The police? They just... existed. Their big heroic feats amounted to nabbing the occasional pickpocket. Rounding up drunks at night. Guiding lost elders home. Oh, and rescuing cats from trees, of course.
Frankly, you could see why cops might feel hard done by. Flying superhumans zipping through the sky, teleporting left and right—did regular beat cops really need to show up?
Investigations? If a superpowered criminal was involved, what could a normal cop do? Better to dispatch a specialist with investigation powers to gather evidence.
In the early game, police at least fielded citizen calls and summoned heroes. But upgrade the city, and that duty shifted to Hero Headquarters. Once that was maxed out, cops were left twiddling their thumbs, burning through budget for nothing.
Maintenance costs were higher than standard buildings, too—and installation was non-negotiable.
Players naturally despised these money sinks masquerading as police, turning "cops" into a running joke on forums. Developer grudge? Leftover from a vanilla city sim prototype? Difficulty padding? Theories abounded, but nothing concrete.
One thing Kang Jin-ho knew for sure, though.
"Ah, what a waste of cash on these guys."
In a city of heroes and villains, police were utterly pointless.
"So, your mentor will fill you in on the details... Rookie?"
"Yes?"
"...What's with that face?"
"Uh, no... Yes?"
"...Sigh."
Raphael, chief of the Raphael Police Substation, let out a deep sigh as the new recruit gaped at him like an idiot.
This kid was supposedly a star from the police academy—he'd even done the interview himself. But this blank stare was not reassuring.
"Listen, rookie. This place is way better than you think. All that outside chatter? Misunderstandings, every bit of it."
New cops assigned to Light City usually reacted one of two ways: hyped up and then crushed, or desperately angling for a transfer elsewhere.
This one seemed like the latter—putting on an act of dim-witted shock.
"Heroes and villains scrapping? Straight up, yeah. Every damn day. Shitty public safety? Guilty as charged. This city's crawling with total assholes. Coffee? Green tea?"
Raphael mixed an instant coffee and set it down in front of the rookie as he spoke.
"But that's the core districts. Way over there. We're the outskirts. Same as any substation. Lost and found. Escort drunks home. Tell some noise complainer upstairs to shut it. Villains? They hardly ever show out here, and if they do, what're we gonna do? That's hero turf."
"..."
Raphael flashed a reassuring grin, trying to win him over.
"Sure, we nab petty crooks now and then—that's just cop work, right? So drink up, relax. Rookies don't get reassigned. Got it?"
"Y-yes, sir..."
Kang Jin-ho nodded mechanically, but inside, he was still reeling. He'd clocked out, fired up a game sesh, passed out in his fluffy microfiber pajamas under a toasty blanket. Vivid as hell.
Then bam—he was in a police uniform, staring at a massive black guy with a grin.
Dream? Too real. Reality? That horned head said otherwise. Big, tough-looking pair of horns sprouting right from the guy's skull.
Demon? Monster? But Kang Jin-ho, game addict extraordinaire, latched onto Hero City Simulator first.
Plenty of supers in the game had powers that warped their looks. So this was... inside the game?
A glance down: name tag reading Patrol Officer Kang Jin-ho.
No way.
To test it, he spoke up.
"Um... where exactly is this place...?"
"Huh? Oh~"
The chief squinted, then nodded playfully, getting the gist.
"This is Eastern District Police Station No. 7 Substation—Raphael Police Substation. Commit it to memory from now on. Oh, hold up. Hello?"
"Uh..."
As the chief took a call mid-sentence, Kang Jin-ho's jaw dropped further.
Light City. The exact name of his custom city in Hero City Simulator. He'd poured love into building it huge, layering in all sorts of lore.
Light City. Heroes. Villains. Massive horns up close. Logic screamed he was inside his game world, but his heart wasn't buying it yet.
Maybe refusing to.
Fine, isekai into a game? Cool. But not as a hero or villain—as a cop? Him? Why?!
"Your mentor's heading up now. I'll introduce you."
"W-wait."
Time out. He wasn't ready to process this—give him a sec to adjust...
Knock knock.
Ignoring Kang Jin-ho's inner scream, Raphael stood at the knock.
"Come in! Come on in."
The door opened, and a black-haired woman stepped inside.
Snow-white skin. Enigmatic crimson eyes. Neat ponytail swept back.
"This is our substation's top beauty, Patrol Officer Park Eun-young. Say hi. This is our new guy, Patrol Officer Kang Jin-ho."
"Nice to meet you. Looking forward to working together."
She smiled sweetly, her tag reading Park Eun-young. A mentor straight out of a TV drama—unreal beauty.
Any normal guy would've bowed to his ancestors and sworn lifelong devotion to the badge.
"..."
Kang Jin-ho just froze, staring at her with a queasy mix of dread and disbelief.
"Something wrong?"
"Well..."
If this was the game world. HisLight City.
Then this "mentor"...
...wasn't she a villain?
The city's strongest, no doubt.